Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 23:6
Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom [to] the right hand or [to] the left;
6. Be ye therefore very courageous ] Joshua exhorts them to bravery and constancy in the same terms as he had been exhorted himself. See above, Jos 1:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jos 23:6
Be ye therefore very courageous.
On Christian courage
In the first place, in your relation with your fellow-creatures, in your intercourse with the world, it requires much courage and resolution to be sturdily upright and just. When your interest, your feelings, your wants, nay, even your future independence, are on one side, and the plain dictates of duty and religion on the other, then it is that you must be very courageous; and not turn aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left. Here is the trial: to prefer the praise of God and the approval of the conscience, with loss, with disgrace or derision, and even poverty for life, to the mean and dishonest acquirement of every worldly good. Courage is requisite even in doing good. Our good actions may cost us much trouble and even expense, much opposition, much vexation, and much misrepresentation; for our good may not only be evil spoken of, but it may be to ourselves a positive evil in a worldly and temporal point of view. On some occasions we may have to encounter the resistance of the indolent and the selfish; the thwarting malignity of envy, that will never either co-operate or commend; the sneers of the niggardly, who revenge an extorted charity by slandering the man that shamed them to it; and the unkind constructions of the worldly, who never attribute disinterested motives to a prominence in well-doing. On other occasions, we may be induced to benefit others, even against their will; to succour the worthless and ungrateful; to weary ourselves in long, and perhaps for the time fruitless, attempts to soften the obstinate, persuade the wilful, reform the profligate. In all these cases we want also a bold and patient decision of character. Again, it requires courage to forgive injuries and endure wrongs, as well as, on the other hand, to ask for forgiveness and to make reparation. Yet the Christian must do both when necessary. Courage is required, again, in maintaining truth and sincerity. I do not mean by this merely avoiding flagrant falsehood and equivocation; but acquiring habits of open and frank avowal of our minds, except where we may give needless pain or offence. No deference to rank or circumstances, no indolent aversion to differ from others, no ill-timed timidity, or desire to ingratiate, must prevent our bold and determined reprobation of what is decidedly wrong, however glossed by fine language or supported by sophistry and cunning. Courage is very necessary also in setting a good example. We are neither to love the praise of men more than the praise of God, nor to follow a multitude to do evil. The real Christian may want resolution to maintain a Christian example; he may shrink from singularity; he may fear a laugh, an obnoxious name, or misrepresentation; he may think it too precise and severe to protest and strive against received customs and opinions, though plainly at variance with the Word of God; or, lastly, he may distrust his own steadfastness and perseverance. Yet all he wants is courage–courage, not to go about setting the whole world right, not to put on a garb of austerity and intolerance that does not belong to him or his religion; not to declare war against practices and amusements which sweeten the busy occupations of life and are decidedly innocent; but to be steadfast and immovable in the plain, straightforward course of Christian duties of every kind. Again, courage is most requisite in striving against all the inward corruption of our fallen nature. In the first place, the Christian has to contend with wicked thoughts and tendencies, or inclinations. When allowed to grow to maturity they become headstrong passions, lusts, and appetites, whose power is generally in proportion to the time they have been indulged. At that fearful period, the courage required is, as it were, that of plucking out an eye, or cutting off a limb! for habit has by that time made the indulgence quite necessary to the sinners happiness, and even comfortable existence. Courage is again necessary, under this head, in getting the better of our natural selfishness. Pride and vanity and pretension are also vices that need no common courage and resolution to master them. They are, however, most unchristian tempers, and must be subdued. But, lastly, it is in perfecting holiness in the heart–by purity, vigilance, discipline, and perseverance-that the Christian warrior has most need of courage and resolution. His enemies are so strong and numerous, and the fort he holds so easily surprised and taken, that he has need of the whole armour of God, that he may have victory, and triumph against the devil, the world, and the flesh. (A. B. Evans, D. D.)
To keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses.—
The supreme excellence of Holy Scripture
I. The book commended: All that is written in the book of the law of Moses.
1. Observe it was to the written law alone that Joshua directed them.
2. From that day to this the will of God has been made known to us in writing.
3. The evidence of the Divine authority of the New Testament is of the same description.
4. Oh, let the written Word of God, infallible truth, be elevated far, far above the writings of men, however excellent.
II. The exhortation respecting it: Be ye therefore very courageous, &c.
1. Keep it–treasure it up in your hearts; lodge it in your memories; inscribe it on the tablet of your mind.
2. Do it. We are not to keep the Holy Scripture as a curiosity in a cabinet; not to hide or bury it, but to practise it. If the Scriptures do not exercise a practical influence over us, they will only increase our condemnation.
3. Observe the universality of the injunction, All that is written in the book. There is to be no reservation nor exception–no selection of favourite doctrines or of agreeable duties, but all that is written is to be read, believed, obeyed I
4. There must be no deviation from the narrow way–that ye turn not aside therefrom, to the right hand or to the left. This is the chart–be careful to steer by it! This is your map, your guide, your lamp; beware of the smallest deviation! (Isa 30:21).
5. Be ye Very courageous to keep and to do all this! He had said in the previous verse that God would drive out their enemies before them; and now he says, Be ye very courageous–but not to fight with sword and spear, but with spiritual weapons–moral courage: be bold for God–much courage is needed: for want of it Peter denied his Lord. Be not ashamed of Christ–confess Him before men.
III. The consequences of obedience or disobedience to this exhortation may be learned from scripture and experience. Wherever Gods written Word was known and read and honoured, religion has flourished; and where that Word has been neglected, religion has decayed. (Dean Close.)
Turn . . . not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left.—
Obedience
1. What motive has the Christian to obedience? Looking to be saved only through the righteousness of another, what is there to induce him to walk righteously before God Himself?
(1) Gratitude, or responsive love. The Christian is plied with reminders of what the Lord hath done for him by Christ to open to him the heavenly Canaan and to give him an inheritance, and his grateful heart responds to the heavenly logic, Take heed that ye love the Lord, Serve the Lord in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things He hath clone for you. If ye love Me, keep My commandments.
(2) Hope. Ye shall possess their land as the Lord your God hath promised you. Christ is made the author of eternal salvation to them that obey Him; and he that nameth the name of Christ must depart from iniquity.
(3) Fear. When ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God ye shall perish quickly from off the good land. And similar are the rules with regard to entering heaven, of which land Canaan was a figure. Disobedience entails exclusion.
2. But what kind of obedience is necessary, or rather what do we learn from our text, will obedience require or call for?
(1) Courage. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do. Many look down upon a Christian as a poor, mean-spirited creature, and only half a man. But he is the highest kind of man. In proportion as he acts up to his principles he is a bold, courageous hero, and may stand up among the bravest and noblest, and suffer not by the comparison. Is it a mark of courage to submit to the operators knife, and a still higher mark to operate upon oneself? This the obedient servant of God does. He plucks out the right eye, he cuts off the right hand of forbidden indulgence; that is, in obedience to Gods will he will give up inclinations which cost him as much as plucking or cutting. Is it a mark of courage to face the cannons mouth? Aye; but it is a higher mark for beings constituted as we are, naturally proud and sensitive, to brave the mouth which sneers and jeers at piety, so that we are often a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
(2) Completeness. Be ye very courageous to keep and do all, &c. The moral law of Moses, though no longer it can be so kept as to give us a right to eternal life, is to be our guide and rule in our present life. For the ten commandments expanded contain all the precepts, duties, and dispositions of a servant of God, just as buds contain all the leaves of that flower which opens out into such fulness of detail. And the Christian is to keep and do all.
(3) Carefulness. That ye turn not aside, &c. The path of obedience is generally a middle path, and we must seek to have such views of Gods Word, under the teaching of Gods Spirit, that our love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that we may approve things that are excellent; or, as it might be rendered, discriminate things that differ, and ever hear a voice behind us saying, This is the way, walk ye in it. The extreme opposite of wrong is not right. We go safest between extremes. The pendulum swings as far to the right hand as it does to the left, and because some persons go to extremes one way, we are apt to go to extremes the opposite way. Some are all for privilege, others all for duty; but we must turn not aside to the right or left. Thankful for privileges, we must do our duty. (H. C. Mitchinson, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do, &c.] It requires no small courage to keep a sound creed in the midst of scoffers, and not less to maintain a godly practice among the profane and profligate.
That is written in the book] By the word of God alone his followers are bound. Nothing is to be received as an article of faith which God has not spoken.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Be ye therefore very courageous; for it will require great courage and resolution to execute all the commands of Moses, and particularly that of expelling and destroying the residue of the Canaanites.
To the right hand or to the left, i.e. in one kind or other, by adding to the law, or diminishing from it, as Moses speaks.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses,…. To observe which required spiritual strength, fortitude of mind, a holy courage, a firm and fixed resolution, and particularly to destroy the Canaanites required in that book, and to abstain from all communion and fellowship with them:
that ye turn not aside therefrom, [to] the right hand or the left;
[See comments on Jos 1:7].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Admonition, vs. 6-11.
After the reminder that the Lord is the One who gave them their land, Joshua proceeds to admonish them how they may continue to maintain the Lord’s pleasure and blessing on them. He begins with a challenge from his own earlier career (see Jos 1:6-9). That challenge is centered around knowledge of and obedience to the law of Moses as the Lord gave it to him. They are under no circumstances to turn away from it. Verse seven may be a kind of reproof of the Israelites, in that they have allowed some of the pagan people to remain among them. These will be a source of temptation to them, but they are not even to mention the name of one of these false gods, and certainly not to swear by them, to serve or worship them in any way.
On the contrary Israel is to be toward the Lord God in every respect as they were not to be toward Canaan’s gods. They are to cleave, or cling tightly, to Him. And here, in verse 8, Joshua also commends the people as having stayed close to the Lord to that very time. Again he emphasizes that the Lord is He who has driven out these great and strong nations of Canaan and given the land to them, so that there was then none who could stand before Israel.
God had put in the Canaanites so great a dread of Israel that one Israelite could chase a thousand, because the Lord fought for them. Israel is to take great care that they have genuine love for the Lord.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
6. Be you therefore very courageous, etc He now shows them the mode of conquering, — not to indulge gross security, as too often happens, as a substitute for genuine confidence. He affirms that God will be propitious to them, and promises that whatever they attempt will turn out prosperously, provided they are steadfast in obeying the Law. However confidently hypocrites may contemn and deride God, they would wish, however, to have him astricted to them; nay, they often, with no small pomposity, boast of his promises. But true faith, while it reclines upon God, keeps those who possess it in his fear. In short, those who would find God must seek him sincerely, and if we desire to be regarded by him, we must beware of turning our backs upon him. The expression, Be you very courageous, as has elsewhere been said, denotes serious study, because in the great weakness of our nature no man will set about the thorough observance of the Law, if he does not exert himself above his strength. Attention ought also to be paid to the definition of true obedience which is here repeated from Moses, (Deu 5:32) and said to consist in not turning either to the right hand or the left.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Jos. 23:7. That ye come not among these nations] They were not to form with the Canaanites any civil or social alliances. The word rendered come indicates close and familiar intercourse. Neither make mention, etc.] Four different expressions are used to describe idolatry.
(1.) Hiz kr vshm elohim, to make mention of the name of their gods, in such a manner that he who mentions them gives himself up to them, approaches them with love, i.e., to mention them with admiration. Hiz kr does not mean to praise, as is evident from Exo. 23:13; see also Psa. 20:8 (Jos. 23:7, E.V.), and Hengstenbergs notes on that passage.
(2.) Lo thashbiu, not to cause to swear by the gods of the Canaanites. Swearing and causing to swear by a god were in ordinary life the most frequent evidence of belief in that god, and therefore the law was enforced, that the name of Jehovah was to be the only one by which they swore (Deu. 6:13; Deu. 10:20).
(3.) Avad, to serve them, colors; and
(4.) hishtachveh, to worship, are distinguished from each other in this way: the former expresses rather the external worship by sacrifice; the latter, calling upon God from the heart. The two words are frequently connected together. They are so in the original passage, Exo. 20:5; see also Exo. 23:24; Deu. 4:19; Deu. 5:9; Deu. 8:19; Deu. 30:17, etc. [Keil.]
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Jos. 23:6-10
FROM COURAGE, THROUGH HOLINESS, TO VICTORY
Joshua, who had so often personally led the Israelites to victory, here shews them how they may attain like triumphs after he is gone. The aged general, who is about to go the way of all the earth, tells out the secret of his many triumphs ere he departs. This secret of victory holds good on every field where men can be found fighting for truth and for God.
Taking Joshuas words in the order given, the leading thoughts which they contain may be thus stated:
I. There can be no holiness without courage. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written. Unless they were courageous they would fail both in keeping and in doing. Nor would an ordinary courage suffice; they must be very courageous.
1. Men need to be very courageous to constantly resist temptation. A little courage will do to keep some of the things that are written. Ordinary fortitude will do for easy occasions. There are multitudes who can keep ever so many things on Sunday, when in Gods house, and among Gods people; and yet, at other times, they utterly fail.
2. Men need to be very courageous to steadily confess their love to God. Some people treat confession as a thing to be attended to once in a lifetime. They confess their love to Christ when they join His Church, and then they seem to suppose that they have done with this matter of confession altogether. Some think confession a matter for the grand occasions of life. They admire the firmness which led Daniel to the lions den, and readily applaud the fidelity of the three Hebrews on the plain of Dura. They believe thoroughly in the heroism recorded in the history of the martyrs. And yet these same admirers of the martyrs fail to be faithful in the small matters of their own daily temptations. We are not to think such men hypocritical and dishonest. Probably many of them would have had courage enough for martyrdom themselves. The simple truth is this: for many temperaments, it needs a better courage to acknowledge Christ daily, than to die for Christ in martyrdom.
3. Men need to be very courageous to do the things of God with an even and a holy mind. Many persons are spasmodic in their zeal. At times they have all the boldness of Peter before the Sanhedrim; at other times they are as weak as Peter before the servants of the high priest. What God asks of us is a boldness which is calm enough to ignore parade and to forget shame.
4. Did men but see things as they are, it would need far more courage to sin than to be holy. These words do but address themselves to the common feeling of men. It is the transgressor who most needs to be very courageous. Holiness is mans act of sheltering himself behind an arm which can never fail; sin is mans act of fleeing before the scoff of his weak fellow to defy the Omnipotent.
II. There can be no cleaving to God without holiness. Turn not aside come not among these nations but cleave unto the Lord your God. A man cannot turn aside and at the same time cleave to God. No man can commune with his idols and also with Jehovah. It is said of some that they feared the Lord and served their own gods; that is possible, but it is not possible for any one to cleave to the Lord and serve his own gods. There is all the difference in the world between that fearing and this cleaving.
1. Every man may cleave to God. These are words addressed to all Israel. There was no man in the host who might not have this high honour and this perpetual joy. It is very marvellous to read in the Gospels of the Son of God, And He took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town. What a picture is that! It is omnipotence leading infirmity! It is perfect purity conducting embodied sin! It is God in His veiled glory, hand in hand with man in his manifest wretchedness! That is no exceptional representation of Divine condescension. Here are words which are addressed to a nation, and through that nation to a world in all its succeeding generations, and these words put before us all the possibility of this exalted union. They say to every man, You too may cleave unto the Lord your God.
2. No man can cleave unto God and also unto sin. When Jesus leads the blind, it is that they may be blind no longer. When God bids us cleave unto Himself, it is that we may let go all things which are not according to His will.
3. He who would cleave unto God well, should think much on Gods abundant mercy and help (Jos. 23:9). The faithful man always has a faithful God. Joshua was able to commend the people in their past relation to God (Jos. 23:8); that being so, it followed, as a matter of course, that he could speak with joy of Gods past relation to His people. He who has endeavoured faithfully to do his little things for God will never want occasion to sing, The Lord hath done great things for me, whereof I am glad. And then, Gods gracious past helps the faithful mans future. Because Thou hast been my help, therefore under the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice. A holy life ever becomes full of encouragements to holiness. It is sin that makes such facilities for sinning. The iniquity of a mans heels compasses him about; the piety of a man compasses him about no less.
III. There can be no victory without cleaving to God. One man of you shall chase a thousand; for the Lord your God, He it is that fighteth for you, as He hath promised you. The help of God is for the man who cleaves to God. Without God, no man can prevail. His very victories become defeats. No matter how few or weak the foes, or what may be the field, he who fights without God must fail. With God one man may chase a thousand. Elisha led the army of the king of Syria whithersoever he would (2Ki. 6:8-23). Peter, with Gods angel to help, was more than the four quarternions of soldiers who sought to keep him. Paul and Silas, with their feet made fast in the stocks, sang till their bondage melted into liberty, and they presently found their oppressors turned into suppliants. If God be for us, who can be against us?
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos. 23:6.MANS RELATION TO THAT WHICH IS WRITTEN.
I. Every man should be acquainted with that which is written. The Bible claims the attention of every living man who has heard of it. Any man who wilfully neglects to make himself acquainted with it is entitled to small respect from his fellow-men.
1. The Scriptures are the greatest moral and social force that the world has ever known.
2. The influence of the Scriptures, while so mighty, has ever been for good.
3. The intrinsic character of the Scriptures is another claim on our attention which should not be resisted. For these and other reasons of a similar character, every one should at least acquaint himself thoroughly with the Bible. Some of the most notorious infidels of the last generation acknowledge that they had hardly read the Bible at all. A mans self-respect has its claims, and this acquaintance with the Scriptures is a very important claim, even in this direction.
II. No man should act partially with that which is written. Men stand in an important relation to all that is written in the book. Many people deal with the Bible as they would with the multiplied dishes of a sumptuous dinner; they choose what they prefer, and leave the rest. They think themselves under no kind of obligation to take aught but what is agreeable.
1. Men choose promises, and leave the precepts.
2. Men choose among the precepts themselves.
3. Men choose as to the traits of the revealed character of God.
4. Men choose among Scripture doctrines. The Bible stands or falls as a whole. No man can pick and choose among the laws of his country. No man has liberty to leave some laws unkept, and to say: I make an exception in the matter of theft, in the matter of impurity, or on the question of murder. A man must be either a citizen or an outlaw. Law is binding all round. He who looks for law to keep himself and his family is a debtor to do the whole law of his country. So the things written in the book of the law of God are all obligatory. Heaven is very merciful to pardon sin, but not to permit determinate rebellion in anything. Heaven also says: You must be outlaw or citizen.
III. All men need courage before that which is written.
1. It needs courage to keep that which is written. Courage before scoffers. Courage as to conventional proprieties and customs. Courage under disappointments.
2. It needs courage to do that which is written. Courage to be faithful in times of great importance. Courage to be faithful in that which is least.
3. It needs courage to keep straight on. We are to turn neither to the right hand nor to the left. The things which are written ask for progress. They ask, also, for undeviating progress.
4. It needs most courage of all to reject that which is written. Men are only able to reject what is written by ceasing to think on the things with which the writings deal. Few people would be able to sin much and at the same time think carefully. A man who turns from God has need to make himself both blind and deaf to some things.
Jos. 23:7.FELLOWSHIP WITH THE UNGODLY.
Have no civil or social contracts with them (see Jos. 23:12), as these will infallibly lead to spiritual affinities, in consequence of which you will make honourable mention of the name of their gods, swear by them as the judges of your motives and actions, serve them in their abominable rites, and bow yourselves unto them as your creators and preservers; thus giving the whole worship of God to idols: and all this will follow from simply coming among them. He who walks in the counsel of the ungodly will soon stand in the way of sinners, and shortly sit in the seat of the scornful. No man rises to the highest stages of iniquity but by degrees. Nero himself, under the instructions of Seneca was a promising youth.[A. Clarke, LL.D.]
Bad men will be as the heathen were for the Israelites, a trap and a snare, and a scourge in the sides, and thorns in the eyes for those who live in intercourse with them.[Fay.]
Jos. 23:8-10.REASONS FOR CLEAVING UNTO GOD.
I. Cleave unto God because you have long done so already (Jos. 23:8).
1. The obligation arising from known liberty and possibility. All the past says that you may so cleave. The past says that you can cleave to God. It is no speculation. There is no excuse on the side of fear as to acceptance. There is no excuse in the direction of insufficient strength.
2. The obligation of continued necessity. All the old reasons for cleaving to Him are still in force. New reasons have been continually added.
3. The obligation of consistency. No man should lightly make his life into a series of grave contradictions.
4. The obligation of not hindering others. The past days of cleaving to God may have led others to God. Turning back would hinder them.
II. Cleave unto God because you have not cleaved to Him in vain (Jos. 23:9).
1. God has given His help irrespective of personal merit. The Lord hath driven out from before you. You who sinned so often in the wilderness. You who had an Achan among you. You who have been so slow to go up and possess the land.
2. God has helped notwithstanding mighty enemies. He hath driven out from before you great nations and strong.
3. Gods help has never yet, ailed you. No man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.
III. Cleave unto God because you will yet need God.
1. A mans enemies may yet be against him as a thousand to one. No man can predict his future. No man knows the relation of others to him in the future.
2. Gods help is equal to any emergencies. If necessary, cleaving to Him, one man shall chase a thousand. We do not know the future; let it be enough that we know the power and love of God.
3. Gods help is promised. There is no question about the sufficiency of that help; neither is there any question about its being given to the man who cleaves unto the Lord. History guarantees the sufficiency of Divine power; the everlasting covenant, added to history, pledges the constancy of Divine love.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Promises of Blessings for Obedience Jos. 23:6-11
6 Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;
7 That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:
8 But cleave unto the Lord your God, as ye have done unto this day.
9 For the Lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.
10 One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God.
7.
Was the Pentateuch written in the days of ?Jos. 23:6
Joshua urged his people to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses. The book of the law of Moses is an evident reference to the five books of the PentateuchGenesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Moses compiled the writing of the book of the Law and commanded the priests to keep it where it could be read regularly to the people of Israel (Deu. 31:9; Deu. 31:24). Joshua urged his people to keep this law and not to turn aside from it in either directionto the right or to the left. Certainly the book was written and was known to the people or this passing reference on the part of Joshua would have had no meaning. Here is good evidence for the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.
8.
How had God fought for Israel? Jos. 23:3; Jos. 23:10
When Moses and the people of Israel stood at the edge of the Red Sea with the Egyptians behind them and no way of escape to the right or to the left, Moses said, The Lord shall fight for you (Exo. 14:14). God did fight for Israel. By His providences the chariot wheels were removed from the chosen chariots of Egypt. The armies of Pharaoh were overthrown in the midst of the sea. When the sun and moon stood still so that the people could avenge themselves upon their enemies, it was said again, The Lord fought for Israel (Jos. 10:14). These people had experienced Gods providences on their behalf and knew of the times when God had fought for Israel in the days of their ancestors.
9.
What great nations had been driven out? Jos. 23:9
A list of thirty-one kings whom the Israelites had beaten is given in chapter twelve. The kings beyond the Jordan had also been defeated. Some of these nations were great and powerful nations. Only by the providences of God were the Israelites able to overthrow these kingdoms.
10.
Why say one man could chase a thousand? Jos. 23:10
Joshua was expressing the unusual strength which would come to the Israelites when they followed the Lord. Moses had earlier said that five of them would chase an hundred and an hundred would put ten thousand to flight (Lev. 26:8). Later Moses had used this very terminology to express the unusual strength which would be Israels as he said one would chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight (Deu. 32:30). Unusual feats of courage were performed by these Israelites. Shamgar slew six hundred men with an ox goad (Jdg. 3:31), and Samson slew a thousand men with a new jawbone of an ass (Jdg. 15:15). One of Davids mighty men was famous for his fighting against eight hundred men (2Sa. 23:8). Even though individual feats of this nature can be isolated in the Scripture, Joshuas reference was a general allusion to the fact that they would be able to overcome great odds as they followed the Lord faithfully.
11.
Why did Joshua urge the people to take good heed to themselves? Jos. 23:11
Joshuas exhortation was really quite explicit. A stronger translation of this passage would indicate that he urged them to guard carefully their souls. Here was an exhortation that they should love the Lord with all their hearts, souls, and minds. They were to give Him first place in their thoughts and in their devotions. Joshua was most concerned over their spiritual attitudes and made this clear as he gave this exhortation.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(6) Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses.As Joshua was the servant of the law himself, so must his successors be. No higher position was attainable than this. It has been the same with the successors of the greater Joshua. With them, and with those who follow them, nothing can ever supersede the authority of the written word.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Very courageous This is the same exhortation that God gave to Joshua at the death of Moses. See Jos 1:7, notes.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“ Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you turn not aside from it, to the right hand or to the left.”
Here was the condition, obedience to the law of Moses. It was to be strictly followed. They must be strong and have courage so that they do not deviate from it one way or another (see Jos 1:7 and Deu 1:6-8. Joshua was steeped in Moses’ teaching in Deuteronomy).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The holy jealousy which the man of God so warmly and affectionately recommended, may serve to teach us, with what circumspection believers in Jesus ought to walk amidst the swarm of vanities, with which they are surrounded in this wilderness state. It is said that the ancient Jews would not allow their children to mention even the name of certain things, which their laws forbade the use of. Swine ‘ s flesh they were taught to call strange flesh, if any occasion required its being mentioned at all. I should much rejoice if believing parents were to exercise a like caution over the rising generation in a multitude of instances. If Joshua commanded Israel not even to make mention of the name of the heathen gods which were around them, can it be consistent with believers to have their children educated in such systems of learning, as lead them into not only an acquaintance with the names, but with the whole history of the gods of ancient idolaters. And when men come to admire the phrases and expressions, for the sake of the language of the heathen writers, is not the transition but too easily made, (except grace restrains) by the heart too much disposed by nature to evil, to the love of the persons or systems also. The prayer which begs not to be led into temptation, presupposes the desire of the soul not to lead ourselves into it. Sweet and precious is the direction of our dear Lord to this point. Luk 22:40 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jos 23:6 Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom [to] the right hand or [to] the left;
Ver. 6. Be ye therefore very courageous. ] Get good store of spiritual mettle, which is got by prayer, and maketh a man invincible. Of cowards they were wont to say in Rome, that there was nothing Roman in them: of many amongst us it may be said, There is nothing Christian in them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the Book of the Law. See note on Exo 17:14, and App-47.
that ye turn not. Compare Deu 5:32; Deu 28:14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
very: Jos 1:7-9, Jer 9:3, 1Co 16:13, Eph 6:10-19, Heb 12:4, Rev 21:8
that ye: Deu 5:32, Deu 12:32, Deu 17:20, Deu 28:14, Pro 4:26, Pro 4:27
Reciprocal: Deu 17:11 – to the right 1Sa 12:20 – turn not 2Sa 2:19 – turned 2Ch 34:2 – declined Psa 101:3 – them Isa 30:21 – when ye turn to the right
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jos 23:6. Be ye therefore very courageous For it would require great courage and resolution to execute all the commands of Moses, and particularly that of expelling and destroying the residue of the Canaanites. The right hand or the left That is, in one kind or other, by adding to the law, or diminishing from it. Which was the condition upon which God promised to continue them in the possession of the land. By this it is evident that the book of the law of Moses was extant in those days, and that the people read it.